Coffee With The Lord

Reflecting this morning during “coffee with the Lord” on the power of God to transform lives!

Everyone who knew Epfraim Robert Bartel, my grandfather, testified to the fact that he was “a hard man!”  Hard on his wife, hard on his sons, hard on his daughter and hard to everyone around him!  The stories my dad, Ewalt Bartel, told me are the stuff of legend… won’t go into them, they’re not uplifting and productive.

Then Epfraim, met the Lord, repented (turned from) his sin and placed his life in the Lord’s hands!  What a transformation!  My pastor as a boy in our little Western Montana town, Leon Mitchell, testified that he had never seen such a transformation in a person’s life.  (In the pic I’ve posted he’s the white haired man in the upper right hand corner.)  In the place of a hard heart, the Lord gave Epfraim a tender spirit.  In the place of resentment and bitterness, affection and sweetness.  He began to love his sons and show appreciation for his daughter.  The neighbors noticed, the whole community noticed… in fact even the neighborhood cats and dogs even noticed!  He became known as the “old guy with the box of Butterfinger candy bars” who gave them to the children of the local church we attended on Sunday morning with a smile – (a practice that Mom’s who had cleaned up their children for Sunday morning worship didn’t exactly appreciate, but tolerated).

Grandpa Bartel is the person that came to mind as I read these verses from Ezekiel 11 this morning about “a new heart”…

“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God!” (from Ezekiel 11:19-20 ESV)

Don’t know who might come to your mind when you think of someone who fits the word “hardhearted,” but let me tell you there is hope for them!  God’s go a thousand ways to get through to them when you can’t think of one!  He can speak to their heart!  He can soften it!  He can transform them in ways that will leave you in awe, wondering if they’re even the same person!  (And the good news?  They’re not! … they’re a “new person in Christ Jesus!)

So take heart… keep praying for them… and think about Epfraim Robert Bartel, my grandpa.

Don’t know if you’ve ever had this experience… The lights go out, suddenly everything is pitch black! Nobody can see anything and there is stuff in the room that you could stumble over everywhere. No one knows where they are going. You hear people talking in the dark giving all kinds of suggestions, offering all kinds of ideas what has happened, but it terms of someone having a solution there is none! Until the lights come back on you’re helpless… In fact it’s dangerous!

Then someone has a “flashlight app” on their cell phone or a little flashlight on their key-chain in their purse… suddenly they are the most important person in the room! They have the light!

According to Apostle Paul, Christians are to be a little like “the person with the light” in their culture… He urged Christ followers to…

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life!” (from Philippians 2:14–16 ESV)

Listen, I don’t want to be a part of the problem in the world I live in… I want to be a part of the solution! I don’t want to be like the person who sits around in a dark room complaining about how dark the room has become, grousing about the fact the lights have gone out! I don’t want my words to contribute to the malaise or deepen the darkness – I want to be the guy “with the light!” And if I am a Christ follower – if I know and have experienced “the gospel” – I’ve got some light to share! I want to pull it out and let it shine! Hey, how did Jesus put it? He said, “You are the light of the world! … People don’t light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house! In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven!” (from Matthew 14-16)

Oh Lord, help me to let my light shine today!

When my priorities are right as a Christian, the byproduct in my life is always God’s peace, His abundant provision and increased productivity!

That’s the message I got today from my Bible reading in Luke 11:22-31!

Life today is filled with all kinds of pressures – pressures to perform, to produce, to profit! The result? Anxiety! Exponential anxiety!! Debilitating anxiety!

The cure for a Christian? Trusting God and keeping our priorities straight!

Here’s how Jesus put it…

“And he said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is MORE than food, and the body MORE than clothing! Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!9 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you’” (Luke 12:22–31 ESV)

Oh, this is an ongoing challenge in my life! How about yours? It’s so easy to be swept up into the vortex of the world’s destructive, demanding tornado of performance, production and profit and lose sight of the most important thing to me as a Christ-follower… His Kingdom! Oh Lord, help me to trust you more and keep my focus on what is really important in my life as a Christian!